Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Most importantly, knitting with the right color yarn this time. Got both sleeves in the works and on a clip but then..

Couldn't help myself - went inside and chowed down a bag of Chex Mix. I bought a Costco case of it for my daughter's school and camp, and can't seem to keep my mitts off the stuff. Unfortunately theres about 48 bags left. I'll try and make sure the kids get a few.

All that salty goodness makes you extra thirsty.

So I went inside to make a drink. Don't worry it's not a cocktail - would be persona non grata on the playground if I couldn't wait till afternoon for one of those. (at least on a weekday, when hanging out alone) Am already shunned enough - as some of you know...

But doesn't it look pretty?Cherry cider and seltzer w/ lime. Although I have had it with vodka, pretty good. Hubby likes it with Rum - he swears all fruit juice goes with rum (not so sure of that myself - he ruined a perfectly tasty peach and banana smoothie a week ago...), and my friend Stephanie thinks this goes w/ gin. So pick your poison - the Cherry Cider is from Trader Joes and it's amazing.

Anyways, the above scenario lasted almost two hours - unheard of around here - until the construction truck pulled in to our neighbors yard and Zoe woke up.

And as if all that wasn't great enough, I now have these:

Koigu like goodness from Ebay. What to make of em if you don't do socks? Any suggestions? Mabye mittens?

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Am a little less riled up today. But still bitter - how could I not have checked my yarn bag?.

ugh

Started sleeve 2, since I have one more skein of the right stuff, that's pretty much all I can do for now. Here's a shot of the sweater w/ the different skeins - the one with the label is the right stuff, the other the wrong stuff. See? subtle, but different enough.

But we have a plan.

If my swap and yarn store pleas don't work out, we'll do a little navy stripe at the chest to divide the lighter blue from the darker. It's pretty subtle, so with the stripe, you might not really notice --- or if you do, it could look intentional. And that stripe just might make my hubby look "fresh from the gym" buff. (For those of you who know Craig, no smirking). For those of you who don't know my guy, I think I weigh more than him....

Am playing with my amazing Jo Sharp Silkroad in Serpentine - soon to be a cardigan yet undesigned. Am doing a hodgepodge of my own making - using the Queensland Collection cardi here as a base for size and adding... maybe cables? maybe a little lace? Definitely a new collar, and a shorter length. No belt.

Gotta remember to rotate those photos. Can you see the yarn? It's gorgeous - dark blue with pink and gray and teal flecks. And soooo soft. Mmmmm. Makes me forget. Or is that the drink?

No, really - have not yet had the drink.

Just put the kids to bed. A week at the beach is wearing them down.

Tomorrow is our last day of the swim lessons at the beach marathon - and we are a tan and exhausted threesome. People don't seem to approve of a tan baby, but I SWEAR, she's been sunscreened! That's what 7 hours straight in the sun does to you - especially times 9 days.

Anways, nice center justification - looks like an invitation to something. But isn't. Off to make that drink. Am thinking something easy and refreshing - wake me up so I can knit.

Vodka Tonic w/ Lime and Orange Juice.

Mmmmm.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Have not posted lately, but have been very busy knitting away on Saranac for my hubby. Am almost done with the body - up near the pits and putting things on holders. Have begun sleeves and am loving the way it looks -- but oh shit. Am at the beach today in bright sunlight and looking closely - two different colors. Pretty close, but yes. Dammit.

Went home to check it out. Have 10 skeins of one color and 10 of another. Didn't look closely when I bought 'em I guess. Thought we'd checked.

So, now have some Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran to swap - I have colorway 14502 and NEED colorway 14503. (Dyelot 01, but at this point, don't really care about that...)

Anyone got it? Want to trade/sell/swap? I guess I can just knit away and make the top a little lighter than the bottom, but hell - after spending almost $120 on yarn and a whole month or so knitting away on those damn 4s, this thing should be perfect - absofrickinglutely perfect.

Am so pissed. Am about to make a nice big drink ---

Email me if you have any 14503!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and finished those bags - brought 11 over and the storeowner took 'em all - they're priced from $48-$68, so we'll see how they do. Silver lining in my day. Guess I'll start a sweater for ME while waiting to see if any Cotton Denim appears.

So, some more bags. I'm almost done and gotta say, am glad to be. If these puppies sell, I might make a few more over the year, but am not going to be turning this into some cottage business. Am so ready to work on the projects I have in the wings - and am soooo bored by the feel of the felting yarns. Thick and scratchy. Not my thing. But having said the above, I'm pretty happy with the below. The one on ring handles is only pinned in place, still have to sew it up. The purple one has long straps like a messenger bag and goes over your shoulder crossways, which I am digging....

Otherwise, have acquired another batch of stuff - three packages of handspun and handdyed from ebay. Here's the first bunch. Love the grape colored stuff, not sure what it should be. It's chunky but really soft.

Must thin the stash as my trunk doesn't close now. Have so many projects to begin and so much yarn and am going nowhere fast! I'm afraid my gathering tendencies have not only caught up with my knitting, but have vastly outdistanced me.

There's the black Rowan Cork waiting to be made into some fabulous everyday sweater, the navy blue with pink flecks Jo Sharp Aran Tweed which will be an amazing cardigan, the blue Allagash that's about to be a long duster sweater from Rowan Biggy, and now there is a fabulous bag of hot pink Cascade begging to be matching aran sweaters for my girls.

Two batches of DK weight alpaca - one white and one lt blue, tagged for aran style sweaters from Rebecca (white) and from Rowan (blue) but not as high up on the list. Threee skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino waiting to become a hat and scarf set, some really cool vareigated bulky pink stuff for the girls' winter hats. Kool Aid dyed red and purple yarn, enough for a sweater of each, but what?

And of course, the Knitty Saranac I've begun for my husband that's slowly taking form between bags. That's the stuff with purpose - the lucky ones, I guess. The rest of the trunk is begging to be noticed, still worth keeping, not exactly up to the A list yet. What to do?

To top it off, a cruel tease - an email from Brookline - everything is now 75% off! The urge is there, but I'll stay here for now. Luckily the little one is napping - when she gets up, rush hour will keep me in Arlington.

Will thin the stash soon, am hoping for a knitsmith swap soon to get rid of stuff. Actually writing the above list was really helpful! Who knew? Maybe I have a handle on it all now - at least I know where some of it is going...

Must do a few things before we go out and Zoe awakes, new Vogue Knitting awaits, being held for me at my LYS. Can't wait to get my paws on it and leaf through... will poke her if she doesnt' wake up in time.

No cocktails till after - then I'm thinking the gin and tonic w/ orange juice and lime. Way hot here. Lots of ice. Lots of ice.

PS - Hickmama, am not able to email you back - but yes, always a Barbie Hot Tub party here at our place. Actually it varies, hot tub one day, beach the next, bath house (??) sometimes, or indoor pool. Those Barbies have quite a life - really though, the few Kens that keep our hundred Barbies happy are the lucky ones...

Friday, August 05, 2005

OK, finshed the katia tank - didn't go with the original three flowers per shoulder, it was a little too much, but the two variegated straps off one flower worked pretty well. And I love the invisible bind off the pattern uses on the ribbed neck. Am pretty happy with this - it also has fitted shaping which you can't see here, but it fits like a glove - a nice, loose glove, which is a good thing - so thanks to Colleen from Knitsmiths for the idea a few Sundays ago - it took me a bit, but ta da!

And here's a question. My oh-so-nice neighbor just returned from a long trip to Switzerland, and in Thanks for watching her menagerie of pets - birds, rabbit, and fish - and mail, etc. she had a bag o yarn for me (plus flowers - plus chocolates mmmmm)

There are a few things here

1. Big cone of red cotton - kind of mercerized, I think it'll be a great tank for next summer.

2. Big cone of deep blue mohair or alpaca lace weight stuff.

3. Gi-normus cone of off white mohair or alpaca lace weight stuff.

4. Big bag of cotton "spaghetti" apparently. It reminds me of the Pachuko Organic cotton stuff and the blue and taupe colors are pretty nice. Might get that pattern for the cable tank from IK and knit one up - or maybe something else, not sure what.

So here's the question - how can I find out what the cones of lace weight stuff are? They say made in Peru on the label, plus a few other things I'm guessing on. Anyone can tell me if I'm right/wrong or send me in the right direction??

This is exactly what' s on the labels on the insides of the blue and white cones:

Michel & CIA Sa

Cal: FS

Tit: 2/10

Col: I'm guessing this one is color (duh)

Lot: I can figure out that one myself too (duh)

And can you take a cone to your LYS and have 'em wind it on a winder? Do they usually charge for that? I'm wondering how much of this stuff I have!

There were two of us, so we only used about half the pint. Didn't pay a lot of attention to the exact amounts, just poured and tasted - a little too sweet, so we added the lime.

Had big plans for other mixed juices to add, other spirits to add, the whole science experiment ready to go, but honestly, the mango's kind of a stand alone fruit.

And it's begging for basic, unflavored, rum. Didn't need much help. The only other thing I would have added if we had it was mint - some leaves ground up in the mortar and pestle and added would have been really nice - almost mojito-y.

So, make your own portions up...

Mango SorbetVanilla YogurtIce cubesRum

Was going to take a shot of the drink in the glass - but wouldn't you know it, they were gone too fast! Enjoy.....

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Now I see how you get folks to visit your blog. Insert questions that need to be answered - aha.Maybe I should resort to contests too. hmm.

So nice to know I wasn't talking to myself all this time, and thank you all for your comments both through the knittyboard and through the comments here. It's quite fun to open Yahoo and see all the blog related emails!

No new photos to post today, had many children here tonight and was babysitting 'em all. Really helped that my 6 year old turns out to have a fever the same night and was generally a big whiny pest. The guest children however, were great.

Ah well. Friends of ours did us a BIG favor last year (helped build a large deck on the back of our house) so we got 'em a gift certificate for dinner at a great restaurant and offered to take their kids when they went. Makes for a fun night- we all watched ET, which is a fabulous kid movie for 1st/2nd graders if you haven't tried it - but not much in the way of knitting or photo taking.

But stay tuned, one more bag will enter the felter tonight or tomorrow AM and it may be my personal favorite.

Also, the FO gallery will post soon, need to take photos of a few preblog items I did this spring that could be blogworthy - I always love looking at other people's FOs, so I'm assuming there may be great interest in mine .... getting a big head with all the recent commentary.

And, you may have noticed the drought around here, but my babycocktail partner has returned! So more drink recipes will also follow - have a pint of mango sorbet just begging for a blender and some rum.....

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Here's where we are in the felting stash. Sad how quickly it disappears...

Have a few bags down so far - must thank Alison for the great idea of putting slits in one and threading a braid through. Came from her sophie w/ the i cord. And gave me something ELSE to do - this felting thing is getting boring.... knit, knit, knit, wash. The braid was fun in comparison! Might embroider one soon too. We'll see. Could be too much excitement in one week. Must start an alternate project for a sanity check.

And check out the coffee table - misshapen pasta boxes, random soup boxes - all kind of soggy and bent. My husband thinks those are hilarious. But they're the best thing to form the bags, so we eat pasta from boxes that look like they came off the discount wagon at the grocery store. Any better ideas out there?

So, what do you think? Ignore the sideways flying bag - forgot to rotate.

If you saw these in a store, would you pay for them? A friend of mine wants to sell 'em and we're trying to come up with a price - let me know what you think. I know they'll all be a little different, but a range would be extra helpful.

The hard part has been knitting them without following a pattern - I have a basic "recipe" ( a rectangle or square on the bottom between 20 sts and 40 sts wide,about 20-25 rows high - each is different) and then kind of fudge from there so I am not using any specific patterns. Am afraid to violate any copyrights or pattern law... with the web, the knitting police will surely find me.

Otherwise, life has been slow. Lots of beach time - less knitting than I'd hoped since I have to chase my little one around the beach, but rest assured, it's in my bag and does manage to come out a little each day.

Must pack bag for the beach - have 5 kids to escort down today! And the knitting will be in my bag again in the hopes....